A conventional agricultural combine includes a header assembly for severing and collecting the crop material as the combine is driven through the field, and a feeder mechanism for rearwardly advancing and elevating the crop material to a threshing area on the combine. The crop material typically advances in a crop mat or layer toward the threshing area. The threshing area of the combine generally includes a relatively large rotatable threshing cylinder arranged in combination with other suitable threshing instrumentalities arranged within a body of the combine.
Agricultural combines operate in different fields of crop material. Some of the fields have stones and rocks lying on or near the surface thereof. As will be appreciated, rocks, stones, and other hard objects can substantially damage and hinder operation of an agricultural combine. The threshing cylinder and cooperative threshing instrumentalities are particularly prone to damage by rocks and stones.
Operator efforts to avoid stones and rocks notwithstanding, the header assembly of the combine will occasionally pick up a rock or stone along with the crop material. Unless the rock is removed before it enters the threshing area, extensive damage to the threshing cylinder, threshing instrumentalities, or both can and often does result.
Various devices have been proposed to protect combines from stones and rocks. Such protective devices are typically arranged between the header assembly and the discharge end of the feeder mechanism. A typical protective device includes a rock holding area in a floor of the feeder mechanism and a rotatable beater for diverting rocks, stones, and the like into the rock holding area. The rock holding area generally constitutes an elongated channel or trough in the floor of the feeder mechanism and extending between opposite sides thereof. Besides diverting stones, rocks and the like toward the rock receiving area, the beater propels the layer of crop material into the threshing area of the combine.
The rotatable beater of such a rock trap typically includes a series of elongated generally straight blades or paddles extending laterally across the width of the beater. As the beater rotates, crop material impacts against a generally planar material engaging face extending along the length of each beater blade. Because of the straight bladed design, the entire elongated outer edge of each beater blade pinches the mat or layer of material passing beneath the beater. This action is very conducive to grain damage, straw damage, and excessive horsepower requirements to rotatably drive the beater. As will be appreciated, the straight bladed design of the heretofore known beaters furthermore creates high cyclic torque loads in the drive mechanism for the rock trap and limits throughput capacity of the feeder mechanism, thus, hindering overall combine performance.
Thus, there is a need and a desire for a stone trap assembly which will inhibit stones, rocks, and the like from passing into a threshing area of a combine without hindering overall combine performance.